Wine Tasting Tour in Slovakia & Czech Republic

Itinerary

Slovakia, land of wine. Have you heard this assertion before? If not, let's discover the most popular Slovak wine region - Small Carpathian Wine Route.

Although Slovakia is not home to the legendary Mount Ararat, where Noah landed with his ark carrying a vine, its winegrowing heritage dates back to the times well before Christ. Wine was relished by Celts and Romans, as well as Svatopluk, the Great
Moravian monarch. Modern Slovak wine has its roots set deep in the past.
Nowadays, Slovak winegrowing territory is divided into six regions that are further divided into forty winegrowing subregions and 603 winegrowing municipalities. Each of the regions has its own specific natural conditions and distinctive history.
Slovakia is a country worth exploring with a wine glass in your hand.

Besides wine, production of mead and beer is strongly connected with Slovak territory as well. Mead is historically known as typical Slavic alcoholic beverage.
Mead was considered the source of life, wisdom, courage and strength, and as such was preferably served to the kings and war heroes.

The tour continues with visiting of South Moravia region in the Czech Republic.
The wine region of Moravia in the Czech Republic includes 311 wine communes, divided into 4 subregions - Znojmo, Mikulov, Velke Pavlovice and Slovacko. The tradition of wine growing dates back to the early medieval times.
In recent years the region has been experiencing a great boom in wine growings and white and rose wines ranking the first places in the international wine competitions.
With exloring these wine subregions we will vitis its most popular monuments of Lednice-Valtice area and Mikulov town.

Small Carpathian Wine Region - vinicultural centre of the Western Slovakia. The whole region consists of 12 viticultural areas and covers administrative territory of 120 viticultural communes.
Vineyards stretch on the slopes of the Small Carpathian mountains from Bratislava to the north to Horne Oresany village. From white varieties are most common Welschriesling, Riesling, Gruner Veltliner and Pinot Blanc. From blue varieties thrive Saint Lauren and Blaufrankisch.
Most quintessential presentation of winemaking culture is majolica - unique pottery belonging to the region since the 16th century.

Devin castle ruins tower over the confluence of the rivers Danube and Morava.The fortress, used as a watchtower by the Slavonic count Rastislav Dovina, was mentioned in the manuscripts as early as the 9th century AD.
After the fall of the Great Moravian Empire of the ancient Slavs, the Devin fortress became an important strategic fortification of the Hungarian Kingdom. As early as in the 13th century, a smaller building with a tower (foundation of a later castle)
was situated at the top of rocky hill. In 1809, advancing Napoleon troops destroyed the fortress. Since 1965 an archaeological research has been carried out in the castle area.
The castle ruins have been partially reconstructed under auspices of the Municipal Museum in Bratislava.

Brno is the second largest city of the Czech Republic and the cultural and administrative centre of the South Moravian Region.
Brno has a beautiful historic centre with historic sights from the 11th century and large number of Baroque and Renaissance buildings.
The dominant feature of Brno is a stone promontory called Petrov and Gothic Cathedral of St Peter and Paul which is built on it. Another dominant feature of Brno is the Spilberk Castle.
It was established around the mid 13th century. Today, Spilberk castle houses The Brno City Museum.

Znojmo is situated on a rock outcropping on steep left bank of the Thaya (Dyje) River near the border with Austria. It is one of the oldest Moravian towns with a long tradition in wine-growing.
The oldest monument is the Romanesque rotunda of Virgin Mary and St Catherine from the mid-11th century.

Velke Pavlovice Wine Region is one of the sunniest and warmest places in the Czech Republic. Due to its favourable climate and soil quality Pavlovice got famous thanks to the outstanding St Lauren, Limberger and Andre red varieties.
From white varieties most thrive here Gruner Veltliner, Pinot Gris, Traminer Red, Palava and Moravian Muscat. The region involves Brno city and Austerlitz, where in 1805 the famous Napoleon battle took place.

Velke Pavlovice town is centre of the region. The town entered history of viticulture thanks to the cultivation station that developed new originally Czech grape varieties.

Slovacko Wine Region is located in south-eastern Moravia. Beside its wine well known for its rich folklore traditions.
The variety of wines from Slovacko is similarly diverse as the local world of folklore. At the lower elevations thrive Riesling, Pinot blanc and Pinot Gris and from the blue varieties Blaufrankisch, Zweigelt, and the domestic variety Cabernet Moravia.
It is also place of origin of Moravian Muscat.

Petrov-Plze wine cellar lane is an area of historic wine cellars embedded directly into the hillside. A layer of clay above the cellar helps to maintain indoor climate, important for wine quality.
Plze was declared as the first monument reserve of folk architecture in the Czech Republic in 1993.

- Breakfast
- Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape visit (UNESCO)
- National Wine Saloon of the Czech Republic exhibition
- Mikulov town sightseeing
- Return to Brno or transfer to an airport/ railway station
- End of the tour

Mikulov Wine Region is dominated by Welschriesling, which grows on the limy soils around Palava Hills, the last foothill of the steppes of Pannonia and the limestone Alps.
Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay reach excellent qualities, in the loamier soils of Dunajovice Hills, the superior Gruner Veltliner is born. Other varieties are finding are Muller Thurgau, Neuburger and Sylvaner.
North of Palava Hills thrive Riesling, Traminer and Palava, which came to life at the Perna Cultivation Station.

Lednice - Valtice complex with area of 200 km is part of UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list. Lednice and Valtice are towns near the border of Austria.
In Lednice, the complex is better preserved and extensive: English Tudor Neo-Gothic building, the park with ponds and canals and the minaret - the tallest of this type of structure in a non-Islamist country.
Valtice chateau has two special attractions: a brand new herb garden showcasing hundreds of different herbs and their uses and the National Wine Center.